Hi, ive read that heroin is made from morphine which in turn is made by opiates. does this make morphine what some could call a 'legal heroin' or are the totally different (in terms of , effects, how easily you get addicted etc....)
2007-11-20 04:11:09 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Medicine
Heroin is made from morphine... as the others have noted, it's an acetylated morphine (basically, you start with morphine and add a few more atoms at two spots on the morphine structure and then you have heroin; in actual practice, the chemical reaction is easy to carry out).
Heroin crosses the blood brain barrier much more readily than morphine but once it's on the brain side of the barrier, it's broken down into morphine and it's the morphine molecule that causes the effects on the brain.
Essentially, then, heroin can be thought of as a more effective means of getting morphine to the brain than morphine itself. Some folks argue, with some justification, that this means that there's essentially no physiologic difference between morphine and heroin; it just takes a higher dose of morphine to cause the same effects that heroin does. The real difference between the two is the way that they're treated in the law.
2007-11-21 19:58:12 · answer #1 · answered by Doxycycline 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Heroin is diacetylmorphine, and is a totally different chemical than morphine. It is synthesized from morphine, so they are related.
Morphine has a longer half-life. Both drugs have high addiction potential, and work in similar ways (by activating opioid receptors).
In the US, heroin is a Schedule I drug, which means it is NOT available by prescription. In the UK, it is available under the name diamorphine.
BTW, if you take morphine that is not prescribed for you, it's not legal.
2007-11-20 10:27:21 · answer #2 · answered by Pangolin 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Heroin is a "special" form of morphine that can get past the blood/brain barrier, and therefore deliver morphine to the brain very quickly. It's morphine reacted with acetic acid.
The fact that it can affect the brain directly is what makes it so dangerous/immediately addictive.
2007-11-20 04:37:52 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Heroin is acetylated morphine, so they are not exactly the same. They do the same thing, and heroin is totally illegal in the US, even with prescription. You might say, therefore that morphine is a "legal" heroin, but you still need a prescription to get it.
2007-11-20 04:26:23 · answer #4 · answered by Simonizer1218 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
its in the same family but differnt class
2007-11-21 09:13:51 · answer #5 · answered by ddmmunday 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yep you will still die ask the girl off intervention last nite
2007-11-20 04:32:56 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋